A Vitamix is a hefty (yet worthy!) investment and if you've taken the plunge, you might now be wondering whether you really need to spend more on an additional Dry Grains Container. How different is it from the Vitamix's Standard/Wet Blade Container? Here's what we found...

The Review

Characteristics and Specs: The Vitamix 32-ounce Dry Grains Container measures 9.8 inches tall. The container is made of BPA-free Eastman Tritan copolyester and has stainless steel blades and a vented lid and lid plug. 3-year warranty. Made in USA. Favorite details: Ounce, cup, and milliliter measurements on the sides of the container. Easy to clean using the self-cleaning feature.Potential problems: None personally encountered. Grinding ingredients for longer than recommended (usually 1 to 2 minutes) may cause permanent damage — so follow instructions. Also, according to the manual, if you grind herbs and spices on a regular basis, you may encounter discoloration, strong odors, and the need to replace dulled blades. Splurge-worthy? Yes, if you process a lot of dry grains and/or dough. Good for small kitchens? The container isn't terribly large, but people with very limited space might not want the extra component to store.

The Vitamix is renowned for being able to do "everything," and the container that comes standard with the machine does a pretty remarkable job. However, there are a few things it doesn't process quite as well, namely dry materials and dough. The Dry Grains Container is specifically designed to handle ingredients like grains, cereal, coffee, and bread dough. Although the standard or wet container can be used for dry ingredients, the Dry Grains Container is more efficient and effective.

A quick glance at the wet and dry containers tells you that the blades are designed differently. In action, the wet container's blades pull food down, while the blades of the dry container push food up and away, simulating kneading. I put these two containers to a side-by-side test with wheat, rice, oats, and beans and found that the Dry Grains Container worked faster and produced a more uniform grind. Cleanup was also neater. As someone who regularly purchases gluten-free flours, I was amazed at how quickly and easily I could make my own (and for less money, too).

If you only occasionally grind flours or other dry ingredients, and don't care about using the Vitamix for bread making, than you can probably get away with just the standard wet container. However, if you're a Vitamix aficionado that really wants to delve into making your own flours, cracked grains, spice blends, and whole grain breads, then the Dry Grains Container can be a powerful component in your Vitamix setup.

Apartment Therapy Media makes every effort to test and review products fairly and transparently. The views expressed in this review are the personal views of the reviewer and this particular product review was not sponsored or paid for in any way by the manufacturer or an agent working on their behalf. However, the manufacturer did give us the product for testing and review purposes.